An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Heart Diamond ISBN 9781419914690 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Heart Diamond Copyright © 2008 Margaret L. Carter Edited by Pamela Campbell. Cover art by Syneca. Electronic book Publication April 2008 With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/) This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
HEART DIAMOND
Margaret L. Carter
Margaret L. Carter
Chapter One The door buzzer cut through the bleakness of yet another Saturday evening. Too late for a door-to-door solicitor. Who would visit at this hour without calling first? Roseanne switched off the black-and-white movie she’d been half watching and trudged to the door. Pausing with her hand on the chain, she said, “Who is it?” “Just me.” Ted, her late fiancé’s brother. She sighed. I should have guessed. He was her only friend who never bothered to phone before dropping in. As little as she wanted to deal with him on a weekend night, she didn’t have the heart to tell him to get lost. “Yeah, what’s up?” she asked, unfastening the chain. Through the door, she heard the patter of a steady rain. “I’ve got something important to tell you. Okay if I come in?” His voice sounded enough like his brother’s to give her a fresh twinge of sorrow, though they weren’t completely alike. Ted’s was pitched a little higher. “You might as well, just for a minute. I was thinking about getting ready for bed.” Lucky she hadn’t changed into her nightgown yet. The way Ted’s eyes roamed over her even in a ratty T-shirt made her vaguely uncomfortable, though he’d never overtly hit on her. His face always gave her an unwelcome shock. She hoped he didn’t notice the wince of pain she tried to suppress. It wasn’t his fault that he’d been in the car when his brother died or that the two of them looked so much alike. Strangers had often mistaken them for twins, despite the seventeen-month difference in their ages. They had the same honey-gold hair, which Tim had worn a bit longer and shaggier than Ted’s. The same height—six feet two—and they shared a trim, broad-shouldered but not muscle-bound build. Their eyes were different shades of blue—Tim’s closer to gray and Ted’s profile 4
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was a little sharper. Still, any unexpected glimpse of him pierced her breast with a pang of longing and sometimes ignited a flare of need between her thighs, chased by a shadow of guilt. She never considered pursuing that illusion. She knew the inner differences between the brothers too well. Friends with them since high school, she’d dated Ted only a few times before she’d discovered reasons to prefer Tim. “Mom and Dad asked me to bring you this.” He strolled into the living room, lounged on the couch and took a small box out of his pocket. His hair and shirt were damp from the rain. Roseanne sat down, careful to keep space between them. “What is it?” “Something Tim left for you.” Ted opened the box. It held a silver ring with a bluetinted, oval-cut diamond flanked by a pair of diamond chips. She took it from him, her hand trembling and tears misting her eyes. “How—?” “While the folks were visiting Tim in the ICU, he was conscious for a little while. He asked them to have this ring made for you if he didn’t survive. He said you’d talked about it once. Sounded kind of creepy to me.” “Why?” Roseanne’s tears made a sparkling halo around the gems. During Tim’s lifetime, they hadn’t gotten around to buying an engagement ring. “What’s creepy about it?” Ted visibly swallowed, as if working up the nerve to answer. “Because it’s made from his ashes. I tried to talk Mom and Dad out of it but they said that was his last wish and he’d been in his right mind when he made it. Personally, I wasn’t so sure.” “He did show me the website when he happened to stumble on it. We thought it was cute and sentimental in a weird way. Heartdiamonds.com, it’s called.” After touching a fingernail to the central stone, she set the box on the coffee table. “Morbid, if you ask me. Frankly, if I hadn’t known our parents would follow up on it with you, I wouldn’t have given you this thing. I’d have returned it for a refund and snuck the money back into their account.”
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After redirecting how much into your own account? She squelched the thought. No matter how tactless he was, he didn’t deserve to be accused of greed. Making a profit off his brother’s remains, now that would be morbid. “You wouldn’t have any right to do that. Tim wanted me to have this ring and it’s none of your business.” “How are you ever going to get over his death, staring at this every day?” Anger flared in her. “Get over it? How can you say a terrible thing like that when it’s been less than six months?” “Come on, Rosie, Tim would’ve wanted you to move on.” “How do you know what he would’ve wanted?” She didn’t try to hide the irritation in her voice. How many times had she asked Ted not to call her Rosie? “Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He scooted over and draped an arm around her shoulders. “I just want to see you start living again. How about going to dinner with me tomorrow night?” She shook her head and edged away from him. The arm of the couch didn’t leave her much space to retreat. “I don’t feel up to that. Thanks anyway.” Inching over, he snaked his arm around her again and squeezed her shoulder. “Come on, hon, give me a chance. You must know how I feel about you.” She stared at him in shock. “No, I don’t, and I don’t want to hear it.” She’d had no idea his repeated invitations, which she’d repeatedly turned down, meant anything other than brotherly concern. Had her passion for Tim and then her grief blinded her so completely that she hadn’t noticed Ted still had a thing for her? Had he felt this way the whole time she’d been dating his brother? She sprang to her feet before he could paw her anymore. “Thanks for delivering the ring. You’d better go now.” He frowned, anger clouding his eyes. “You can’t leave your heart buried in his grave forever.” “Well, if I ever dig it up, it won’t be for you.” She stalked to the front door and held it open. “We’re friends and that’s all. Please don’t bring this up again.”
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He clutched her arm. “You don’t mean that. You can’t just throw me out.” Roseanne shook him off. “I’m not throwing you out. I’m asking nicely.” She chilled her tone enough to hint that “nice” wouldn’t necessarily last. His frown darkened to a scowl. “You’re a healthy woman. You need a man. You can’t go the rest of your life without getting laid.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her against him. His mouth covered hers with suffocating force. When she felt the hard muscles of his chest against her breasts and his erect cock pressing on her, a rush of heat dampened her underwear. Both ashamed and furious, she shoved him away. “That does it. Get out of here right now.” Shaking his head, he stomped out. She bolted and chained the door, her stomach churning. She didn’t want to fight with any member of Tim’s family. Why was Ted suddenly acting like such a jerk? It must’ve been some crazy impulse of the moment. If I don’t encourage him, he’ll forget about it soon enough. Her cheeks burned with humiliation at the way she’d responded to him for that split second. The reaction was pure animal lust, she assured herself. She didn’t even like him that much. She collapsed on the couch and plucked the ring out of the box. The diamond shimmered through the fresh tears that welled up. Though she hadn’t come close to “getting over” her loss, she’d started to grow a protective shell. Now this unexpected gift had cracked the shell to let in the pain all over again. When she slipped the ring onto her left hand, it fit perfectly. Not long before the accident, she and Tim had gotten measured at a jewelry shop and of course he’d remembered her size. She kept it on during her shower, unwilling to lose contact with it for even a few minutes. With her eyes closed, she relaxed under the hot water spray and imagined Tim standing behind her and massaging her breasts with soapy hands. Yes, she needed to get laid but not by just any man. Definitely not by her dead lover’s brother. She’d never have the lovemaking she yearned for again. 7
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As if that hopeless thought had conjured it, a shock like static electricity zapped through her. Had the bathroom wiring shorted out? If so, she couldn’t stay under the shower. Just as she reached for the faucet, something looped around her wrist. She let out an involuntary yelp. Although she didn’t see anything, she felt a cool, silken cord wrap around her lower arm. Before she had time to move, a similar invisible length of silk encircled her other arm. Sparks raced along each cord. They didn’t hurt. Instead, they raised goose bumps on her naked body and made her nipples and clit tingle. Two more tendrils whipped across her chest to coil around her breasts and flick the nipples. Another tendril, longer and thicker, snaked between her butt cheeks. Her body convulsed with a stronger jolt of electricity. The longest cord slithered between her legs to invade her slit as well as the cleft of her bottom. The tip vibrated on her clit. She couldn’t help planting her legs farther apart, silently begging for more. Tiny electric shocks sparked everywhere at once. The muscles inside her pussy quivered. Leaning with her palms flat against the shower wall, she closed her eyes and surrendered to the climax that swept over her. The electricity and the invisible tendrils vanished instantly. Heart pounding, she groped for the faucet and turned off the water. What was that? Am I losing my mind? Dream. She must have fallen asleep for a minute and had an erotic dream. A crazy, scary one. She staggered out of the shower stall and gasped for breath until her pulse calmed down. While toweling herself, she took special care to dry the ring, polishing it to a fresh gleam. She put on a satin nightgown and lay in bed with only a sheet between her and the coolness of the air-conditioning. Just before turning off the lamp, she gazed at the photo on the nightstand, as she did every night. It showed her with Tim and his parents’ beagle, Grover, on a beach. Roseanne’s curly black hair, tousled by the wind, contrasted with Tim’s golden mane. His arm encircled her shoulder, fingers almost
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grazing the edge of her breast the way they never would again. A whimper escaped from her as she switched off the light. The memory of his smile, his kiss, his touch melted her inside. She pressed both hands to her breasts. The cool circlet of the ring dented her skin. Her nipples hardened in her palms. She squeezed them, though her own touch could never ease the deepest ache. Her stomach cramped with need. Moisture welled between her legs. She kneaded her breasts for a minute then shifted one hand to her mound. She stroked the hair in slow circles, while her thigh muscles tightened and blood-heat engorged her clit and the folds of her pussy. While pinching a nipple to a firm peak, she dipped a finger into her slit and spread hot cream over the hypersensitive bud. She imagined Tim’s fingers on her pussy or better yet, his tongue. Her clit thickened and tingled. She pressed her legs together, trapping her hand. Her other hand wandered from the left breast to the right and back. Every inch demanded touching at once. Frustrated, she arched her hips and stroked faster. Her inner muscles clenched. Shoving two fingers inside, she circled her clit with her thumb. Never enough. She craved his cock. Fingers, vibrator or a cushion clamped between her legs couldn’t fill the void. Yet her body responded anyway. Her vision grayed and all sensation converged on the spot she was rubbing faster and faster. The tingling narrowed to a familiar burning at the tip of her clit. It began to throb and her channel contracted around her fingers. She pressed hard against her pussy while the convulsion racked her. The pulsations faded all too soon, along with the mindless pleasure they’d brought. Limp, she lay with her tear-dampened eyes closed. Nothing but a physical reflex, an emotionless spasm of nerves and muscles. Would she ever know a lover’s warmth again? She had only one refuge from emptiness, the oblivion of sleep. She’d almost drifted off when a word whispered inside her head. Rosebud.
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Her heart lurched. Tim’s secret name for her, spoken only while they’d made love. She remembered his lips and tongue teasing her clit when he’d said, “Sweet rose petals. I’m going to sip your nectar like a honeybee.” “Nice line,” she’d said between gasps of passion. “But all worker honeybees are sterile females.” His laugh had tickled the hair on her pussy. “Okay, then, I’m a bumblebee with a giant stinger to poke you.” After that, he’d called her Rosebud in bed. “Tim?” She opened her eyes. Imagination. Nothing but a fragment of dream. The curtains over the bedroom window flapped. Wind? Not possible, with the air conditioner running and the window closed. Yet she felt it blowing across her. The breeze raised chill bumps on her damp skin. She pulled the sheet tighter around her shoulders. A puff of wind snatched the cloth out of her hands and flipped the sheet to the foot of the bed. She lay exposed to the cool air. Impossible. Her heart racing, she sat up and reached for the covers. On her left hand, a glimmer of light flashed from the diamond, a brighter glow than any reflection could account for. A stronger gust of wind shoved her flat on her back. She let out a yelp of alarm. When she tried to move, invisible hands gripped her shoulders to hold her down. Lie still, Rosebud. Let me pleasure you. I need your climaxes. I need to fuck you until you practically pass out from coming over and over. Fingers swept down the front of her body, leaving a trail of chills. Her nipples puckered and the still-tender flesh between her thighs tingled. She squirmed. A cold weight settled on her chest and hands pinned her arms to the mattress on either side of the pillow. I’ve waited so long for this chance. It’s the only way I can be with you. Don’t fight me. Silken cords like the ones she thought she’d dreamed in the shower looped around her wrists. They stretched her arms out on each side and bound them to the bedposts. A
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second pair of tendrils tangled around her legs to pull them apart and fasten them to the bed’s footboard. While the unseen grip immobilized her, another pair of hands grasped the hem of her nightgown and tugged it over her head. The pressure on her chest eased just long enough for the hands to pull off the gown and toss it to the floor. She bucked against the unseen bonds. Fear sliced through her rising excitement. Let me go! Not yet. I need you this way. Got to fuck you until you come. Then maybe you won’t scream when I get strong enough to show myself. That made no sense at all. Yet the breeze wafted the spicy aroma of Tim’s aftershave and the salty tang of his skin to her nose. Okay, definitely a dream, Roseanne thought. Might as well flow with it. Fingers danced all over her body. How many hands? She couldn’t count them. They threaded through her hair, cupped her breasts, spiraled around her nipples, trailed down her front to stroke the hair on her mound, massaged her thighs, caressed the insides of her legs until her toes flexed. The pulse pounded in her throat and between her legs. She tried to reach up to embrace her invisible lover but something still shackled her arms. Her lungs felt tight, her breath fast and shallow from both lust and fear. Don’t be afraid. I’d never hurt you. Let me hold you! That’s not possible yet. Along with the chill breeze, she felt warm breath in her hair and on her cheeks. Lips grazed her chin and nibbled along the curve of her jaw. She whipped her head from side to side in a futile quest to capture that mouth with hers. A soft laugh ruffled her hair. A tongue fluttered against one side of her mouth, then the other. A moan escaped
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her. The tongue parted her lips and darted between her teeth. She tasted the single-malt Scotch Tim had often enjoyed as an after-dinner drink. Her own tongue met and sparred with the invader. So hot. Cool caresses on her flushed body and a searing brand on her lips. The sensation shot down to her breasts and clit like a bolt of lightning. Liquid flooded her slit. Desperate for pressure there, she struggled to close her thighs. The invisible cords kept her legs splayed against the mattress. The disembodied voice purred with satisfaction. Not yet. Maybe I’ll let you move soon. Ephemeral touches caressed her neck, breasts, stomach, arms, legs, even the soles of her feet, like a thousand feathers or moth wings. Meanwhile, the invisible mouth kept kissing hers. Every inch of her skin quivered. She felt she might vibrate into a million fragments. Moaning, she arched her hips. A hot, wet tongue lapped her swollen bud. Yet lips continued to nibble on hers. How could that happen? Why ask? It’s a dream. Anything can happen. The next instant, yet another mouth closed on her right breast. No, two sets of lips, identical tongues flickering over both of her nipples. Miniature lightning bolts flashed behind her closed eyelids. Electric shocks radiated outward from her nipples and clit until her whole body quaked. Just as the first pulsations of orgasm surged through her, something parted her pussy lips. An erect cock filled the emptiness. Another firm length plunged between her ass cheeks. She gasped in astonishment and shuddered with the undulating ripples of the twin organs inside her. The second invasion didn’t hurt the way it would have in real life. It only doubled the tantalizing pressure on her G-spot. She raised her bottom and flexed the inner muscles of her pussy and butt to draw the invisible shafts deeper. Their tips generated unbearable friction from both sides on that hypersensitive target. It seared the lining of her pussy, yet without pain. The two cocks thrust in perfect rhythm, while her hips pumped. 12
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More! Deeper, faster. You want me to fuck you harder? Yes! Then say it that way. Fuck me harder! He gave what she craved and her whole body shook as she came. She threw back her head and screamed through her release. When the last tremors faded, the cocks inside her vanished, as did the multiple hands and mouths. A single pair of hands massaged her shoulders and gentle kisses wandered over her cheeks and throat. “It’s all right, Rosebud. I’m with you now.” Wait a minute, that wasn’t in my head!
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Chapter Two Roseanne’s eyes snapped open. A man’s shape lay beside her. A neon-blue glow surrounded it. Tim’s face and body, translucent except for the gray-blue eyes. His hand flowed over her like cold water. A shudder coursed through her. “Roseanne? Don’t be afraid, love. I’m sorry I scared you at first.” The voice sounded so real, exactly like her memory of Tim’s. “Of course it sounds the way I remember it,” she muttered, “because it’s coming from my imagination.” “No, it’s not,” he said. “I’m really here.” She gasped and sat up. When the apparition’s fingers trailed down the valley between her breasts, she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them to shield herself. He reached for her again. She let out a half-stifled scream. He blinked in and out of visibility like a failing light bulb. “Please don’t.” A chill enveloped her. “What are you?” she whispered. “It’s me. Honest.” Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut then opened them. He hadn’t vanished. “Why are you afraid?” Lying on his side, he leaned on one elbow and gazed into her eyes. She noticed his elbow and hip didn’t dent the mattress. With one finger he touched the diamond. At the moment of contact, his outline momentarily became sharper. “Are you kidding? Because if you aren’t a dream, you’re a ghost.”
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“Well, yeah,” he said with a sad smile. “Considering I’m, you know, dead and all that.” Her throat constricted so that for a few seconds she couldn’t choke out any words. “Why? How?” “Why? Because I couldn’t stand being torn away from you. I’m able to reach you now because of the diamond.” She stared at the gem, which glimmered in the eerie light he radiated. “You’re haunting the ring?” “If you want to put it that way.” Her eyes roamed over his naked form. “How come I can see you now and not a few minutes ago?” “I couldn’t manifest visibly on my own. I needed energy from you, from your climax. The more I draw, the more solid I can become.” With one finger she poked his chest. The sensation felt like sinking into cool, halfset gelatin. Static electricity fizzed at the point of contact. He reached out to skim over her shoulders and breasts. Again miniature lightning bolts arced in his wake. The hair on her arms bristled and her nipples peaked. “Please don’t pull away from me. I couldn’t stand it. Let me love you.” The wistful pleading in his voice made her chest ache. He had to be real. Her mind couldn’t have invented all these details. His shape flickered again. “Don’t you want me here? I can’t stay if you don’t.” If she’d believed all along that his essence survived somewhere, didn’t it make some kind of sense that he could appear to her in visible form? In that case, the last thing she wanted was to push him away. “Of course I want you.” The bluish aura around him brightened when she spoke. “Stay. Make love to me.” She blushed at the memory of how she’d said it more bluntly in her mind a minute before. He’d never expected those words from her during his
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lifetime. Becoming a ghost must have broken down his inhibitions. She tried to hug him but again his substance yielded like a viscous liquid. She let out a soft cry of dismay. “Don’t worry about that. Maybe I can become more solid later. Meanwhile, this way has advantages.” He splayed one hand over her right breast. The fingers elongated until he was fondling both breasts at once. His other hand drifted down the front of her body, making her skin prickle with tiny sparks. He circled her clit and simultaneously stroked her cleft. With a sigh, she lay back, spreading her legs. The fingers parting her labia burrowed into her pussy. They lengthened, impossibly filling her. Another finger snaked backward to probe the valley between her rear cheeks. She hissed and jumped at the shock. It seared like ice. His lips nibbled along the tops of her breasts, then up her neck to kiss her. When his tongue invaded her mouth again, she felt a tug deep in the pit of her stomach. Painless cramps squeezed her insides. The muscles below her rib cage tightened. She felt as if molten lava flowed from her pussy to every point where Tim’s ethereal substance touched. She sighed into his open mouth. Little by little, his fingers and tongue warmed. Within a minute or two, they burned instead of freezing. His body covered hers with no more weight than a cloud. He radiated a whirlpool of energy that sent sparks racing over her skin just as they had before. “Your passion warms me,” he murmured. “It makes me more real, more—here.” “You pulled it out of me. I felt it.” “Did it hurt?” Instead of breath against the hollow of her neck where he nuzzled her, he emitted a tantalizing breeze that wafted over the entire expanse of her bare skin. “Oh, no.” She squirmed under his caresses. “More.” His sinuous fingers tormented her nipples, clit and every opening where she yearned for him to fill her. Meanwhile, his tongue alternately flickered between her lips and stretched to lap her throat and the sensitive spots behind her ears. She arched her 16
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spine and tried to wrap her arms around him. They still sank into his rib cage and back as if he were only half real. But that’s just it, he isn’t real. If he’s not a dream, he’s a spirit without a body. She ordered herself not to think that way. The delectable sensations he incited in her felt real enough. She stopped trying to embrace him, so the strangeness wouldn’t distract her from the pleasure. Closing her eyes, she let herself drown in the energy that flooded over her. The hairs on her arms and at the nape of her neck prickled with static. Her clit and pussy lips tightened. The first waves of the mounting climax rippled through her. He filled her everywhere at once. While he strummed her clit, the finger between her buttocks pressed on the base of her spine. As if flipping a switch, that pressure instantly ignited the explosion building in her. She clutched the sheets in both fists while her hips arched and shocks of ecstasy convulsed her. When the tremors subsided and she opened her eyes, Tim hovered a few inches above her. His blue aura looked a little brighter. His hands, now of normal size and shape, skimmed from her shoulders to her hips, back up, then down again. They felt slightly less liquid, though still not quite solid. She lifted one hand and brushed it tentatively over his face. He turned his head to kiss her palm. “Can you really stay?” she asked, barely able to speak above a whisper after that cataclysmic orgasm. It seemed he hesitated a couple of seconds before answering, “As long as you want me.” She ran her fingers down his chest. The quasi-flesh parted and re-formed in the wake of her exploration. “Can you—can you come inside me?” Glancing down, she surveyed his erection, no less or more solid-looking than the rest of him. “Just what I hoped you’d ask.”
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He floated down to cover her. Though she still felt no weight, the tips of her breasts touched his chest, his lower body pressed lightly against hers and his cock probed between her thighs. She opened wider and he slid halfway in. Incoherent murmurs hummed from her parted lips in time with her rapid breathing. Arching her hips, she struggled to draw him deeper. Since he didn’t need his hands to brace himself above her, they swirled over her shoulders and the outside curves of her breasts while he nibbled her neck and curled around to lap her nipples. “Oh, Rosebud, I love that sound you make when I do this.” He yielded to her wordless pleas enough to delve another inch into her channel. “I wish I could feel your pussy.” She contracted her inner muscles around his shaft, which felt more solid than it looked. “What? You can’t?” “Ectoplasm isn’t the same as human flesh. I can see and hear but my other senses don’t work. I don’t have localized sensations in my cock or any other part. I feel your energy all over, equally intense everywhere.” He flexed in and out, sending ripples of pleasure through her. Somehow he molded the base of his penis to rub against her clit at exactly the right angle to ease the burn in the nerve endings that clustered there. Her hips involuntarily humped in rhythm with his too-slow thrusts. “You mean this doesn’t do anything for you? You’re not getting turned-on like I am?” “Sure I am.” His tongue flickered over her nipples and darted into the hollow of her throat. “Like I said, I feel your energy. Your aura. I hear your pulse beating like a little drum. It’s echoing all through me. When you come, it’ll hit me like an earthquake.” “Then make me come.” She grasped at his shoulders, clenching her fists in frustration when she still couldn’t get a grip on him. “Go faster.” She swallowed, remembering what he’d demanded of her before he’d become visible. “Fuck me faster.” He pumped faster, harder, until his thrusts felt no different from their most intense coupling in the flesh. No, it was different in some ways—better. His cock lengthened, thickened, filled her beyond anything she’d ever fantasized. At the same time, the root 18
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strummed her clit with every stroke. When she closed her eyes, she felt as if she floated off the bed and rocked in his arms like a boat on a stormy ocean. Her head reeled. The phantom wind whirling around her sucked her breath away. She stretched toward the peak—higher, higher—and tumbled over it like a surfer on the crest of a wave. Tim wrapped around her like a silken cloak, not only with his arms and legs but with his entire self. The shudders that racked her body resonated through him too. She felt them echo back to her, amplified. At last she floated down to rest, her pulse quieting, breath heaving in and out of her lungs. She opened her eyes and put her arms around Tim. When she tried to smooth his hair off his forehead, it felt more like running her fingers through tendrils of vapor. Yet otherwise, even with the blue aura outlining his silhouette, he looked less translucent, more alive than before, though his skin still felt like cool silk. With a tentative squeeze, she tested its texture. Her fingernails didn’t sink in so readily this time. “You feel different.” She wrapped her hand around the shaft of his cock and stroked upward. It grew longer instantly, with a shower of sparks following the path of her caress, but felt as firm as it had in life. In contrast to the coolness elsewhere, that part, like his mouth, felt hot. “All because of your passion. After you have one more climax, I think I’ll become fully solid, at least for a few minutes.” “Another one?” She still had to gasp for breath from the last cataclysm. “No way. I can’t come again.” “Yes, you can. I’ll prove it right now.” He started by kissing her, his hands on her shoulders, thumbs stroking the hollows on either side of her throat, his mouth exploring hers from one corner to the other. She darted her tongue out to meet his. Again she tasted Scotch and caught a whiff of his spicy aftershave. If she didn’t try to hug him too tightly, she could imagine he was alive. Tiny electric shocks danced on her lips and tongue. When he moved from her mouth to her throat and the vee between her breasts, the sparks raced from one spot to 19
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the next in his wake. He circled her right breast in narrowing spirals until his tongue reached the nipple and lapped it to an aching peak. Then he did the same on the other side. She moaned in protest when his mouth left her breasts to wander down the front of her body. Her nipples tingled from the breeze that wafted over the moistened tips. She let out a long sigh of pleasure when he cupped both breasts and skimmed his fingers over the nipples. Meanwhile, he continued downward to nuzzle the damp triangle of hair. “I wish I could feel how soft this is, the way I remember.” His breath hummed against her sensitized flesh. Fisting the sheets beneath her, she threw her head back and arched her hips in silent pleading. Her clit and the folds of her pussy swelled and tightened. Already the leading edge of a fresh climax rippled along her nerves. His tongue flicked her bud. “Rose petals and cream. I wish I could smell your skin and taste your pussy.” He planted light kisses on the insides of each thigh before licking his way back up to her clit. “Inside,” she whispered. He lapped the length of her slit over and over, just barely grazing the entrance where the nerves were most sensitive. Her head spun with the sensory overload from his hands on her breasts and his tongue inside her. Her clit started to pulse like a second heartbeat. “Need to come,” she whimpered. “Please.” Her hips thrust upward through no conscious choice of hers. He clamped his mouth on her pussy and his tongue flickered over her clit like a flame. At once the convulsions shuddered through her, on and on, with the vibrations of his energy quaking through her body and driving her to new heights just when she thought she would spiral to completion. He moved upward to lie on top of her. She felt him shaking with the release they shared. 20
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“That’s it,” he murmured in her ear. “That’s what I needed.” Without thinking, she twined her arms around his neck. His muscles felt solid. His scalp felt covered with hair. She opened her eyes to gaze into his. They still glowed and a blue glimmer still sparkled around him but she couldn’t see through him anymore. “You feel real.” “Like I said, your passion gives me enough energy to form a solid body. I can’t maintain it for long but we can enjoy it while it lasts.” “You mean you can feel things now?” “No, but that’s okay. What’s important is how I can make you feel.” He lightly kissed the corners of her eyes, then her cheeks and her throat. His lips wandered over her face until they met hers again. Encircling him with her arms and legs, she savored the taste and smooth warmth of his kiss. If she closed her eyes to shut out the azure halo, she could imagine him alive in her embrace. She ran her fingers through his hair and arched her back to press the length of her body against his. To her astonishment, desire seared through her again. She yearned for his cock to fill her. The contact with his pseudo-flesh seared her nipples and clit. She rocked her pelvis against his. Liquid gushed between her legs. She whimpered with need. He nuzzled the side of her neck, his lips branding her skin. “Let me in.” She opened to him and his cock slipped into her sheath, inch by inch. Her hips involuntarily rose to meet him, coaxing him deeper. Cupping one of her breasts with his left hand, he skimmed down her body to the apex of her thighs. He stroked the triangle of hair and probed between the blood-engorged folds. As his finger circled her clit, she gasped at the sensation, sharpened almost to pain and flexed her hips faster. She quivered all over, helplessly shaken by his touch and the silken glide of his cock inside her. She felt about to shatter with the vibration but the climax eluded her frantic writhing.
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His tongue flicked over the hollow of her throat and traced the upper curves of her breasts. “I’m not infinitely flexible this way. Let’s try another approach.” He pulled out. With a squeak of dismay, she dug her nails into his shoulders. He grasped her hips. “Roll over.” She turned onto her stomach. Clasping her inner thighs, he spread them apart and bent her knees to raise her bottom. She invited him inside with an ardent wiggle. His fingers spiraled around her clit. “Your pussy wants my cock?” The teasing lilt in his voice, exactly like the tone he’d often used at moments like this, only stoked the fire within her. “Yes! Hurry!” He swept her hair aside and bit the nape of her neck, the way he’d always done in this position. The nip of his teeth sent a shiver down her spine, straight to her clit. He caressed the bud, finding the spot where it burned most urgently. He surged into her pussy. She buried her face in the pillow with both hands clutching the pillowcase, fingers flexing in time with his thrusts. The piston strokes of his cock echoed his strumming of her clit. The friction tormented the G-spot deep inside her. Once again, ecstasy flooded over her. She screamed into the pillow to muffle her cries. Above her, Tim’s body shook as if racked by the earthquake he’d mentioned. Turning her head sideways so she could breathe, Roseanne shuddered as the aftershocks of the climax faded. While Tim gently kissed her shoulders and neck, his hands roamed over her back and the globes of her buttocks. He eased off her, though one leg still draped over hers. She turned on her side to face him. The blue glow still outlined his form. He brushed her hair back from her damp forehead and kissed her there with a flicker of his tongue.
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“I wish I could taste the salt on your skin. But that last time was almost as good as real life.” The hand soothing her with long, slow strokes became less like muscle and bone, more like cool water. The color faded from his hair and skin and she could dimly see through him. “Why are you turning transparent again already?” She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly chilled.
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Chapter Three “I can’t draw but so much energy from you at one time, so I have to conserve it. No matter how it looks or feels, this form is still ectoplasm, not flesh and blood.” “You keep saying that. What does it mean?” “Ectoplasm is spectral matter, I guess you’d say. Between mundane protoplasm and pure spirit.” Roseanne shivered. “For some reason I feel cold.” He drew the sheet and bedspread up to tuck them around her. “You see what happens when I draw enough of your energy to make myself solid. That’s why you’ve lost body heat.” “I don’t care.” She clasped his hand, wishing she could keep him from vanishing by holding onto him. “Take as much as you need. I want you to make love to me all night, every night.” He shook his head. “I can’t risk hurting you. We have to ration it. Like I said, I’m not completely here, sort of caught in between.” “I would’ve thought you went into the light, to Heaven or whatever.” “I’m earthbound because my life ended prematurely. At least, that’s the best I can figure out. Nobody gave me an instruction manual.” “So why didn’t you appear to me before this?” “I was tethered to the remains of my body. I didn’t have any desire to haunt the guys at the plant where they make the diamonds, so I just sort of hovered around. It seemed like an eternity while I was stuck in limbo, waiting until I could touch you again.”
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She tried without success to visualize his consciousness drifting after his ashes like a balloon on a string. “What about your parents?” “I was tempted to appear to them but I wouldn’t have had enough energy to make them perceive anything except my voice and maybe a glimpse of a shadow. If they hadn’t thought they were going crazy, they would’ve been terrified, the way you were at first.” A kiss like a flutter of moth wings alighted on her cheek. “I had faith that you’d be able to accept me.” “Can we do any of the things we used to do together out of bed? Like drink a bottle of wine on the rug in front of the fireplace?” “You can drink it while I watch. I can’t process food or liquid.” When her shoulders sagged in disappointment, he said, “Hey, I can still watch the fire and listen to the CD player while I kiss you.” “How about whipping up an omelet for Sunday brunch the way you used to do?” “I can cook for you, even if I can’t eat but not on Sunday morning. Daylight shreds ectoplasm. Why do you think ghost sightings usually happen after dark?” “So we can’t take Grover for walks in the park, either?” “Since the park closes at sunset, probably not. At most, I could drift along with you as a voice in your head and a shadow out of the corner of your eye.” She rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes blurring with moisture. “You’re really dead, aren’t you? Even if you’re here, sort of.” “Yeah.” “This is kind of like a computer simulation, only with ectoplasm, isn’t it? You’re not alive.” “No.” Sadness muted his voice. “I can haunt you through the ring. I can’t come back to life.” “What’s the use of showing up like this to tease me with what we can’t ever have?” She wiped the back of her hand across her face. “Why did you leave me alone?”
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He gave her a puzzled look. “It hurts me as much as it does you. It’s not like I had a choice.” “Yes, you did.” Furious tears scalded her eyes. “Why did you have to drive that car that night?” “What?” She flailed her fists at him and they sank into his mist-like substance. “If you hadn’t been driving, you wouldn’t be dead.” “But I wasn’t. Ted was.” The words hit her like a punch in the stomach. She sat up, hugging her knees. “I don’t get it. You were behind the wheel when the police and the ambulance got there.” Tim’s form wavered like a smoke cloud buffeted by a breeze. “Now I remember. Ted switched our places.” “He staged it to put the blame on you?” “Yeah. I remember floating outside my body after I got knocked out in the crash. I watched him haul me into the driver’s seat and press my fingers on the steering wheel. He muttered something about being sorry but he couldn’t afford another DWI. He shoved my head against the windshield, then wiped the blood off the dashboard on the passenger side. I shouldn’t have let him drive in the first place. If you want to blame me for anything, it should be that.” “Why did you?” Roseanne wasn’t sure whom she was madder at right now, Tim or Ted. “He jumped in the car and started it before I could catch up with him. I couldn’t just let him drive off by himself, so I got in and tried to talk him into pulling over. He wasn’t in a cooperative mood, considering we’d just had a fight.” “About what?” “You, of course. Don’t you have any idea how jealous he’s always been over you picking me instead of him?”
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“I do not want to know that.” She briefly covered her ears. “Why didn’t you tell somebody the truth in the hospital? You were conscious for a while there.” “At that point I didn’t even remember much of anything about the wreck. I was only thinking about you.” “Well, you should have said something. The police took Ted’s word and didn’t dig very deep.” “I guess that’s partly because I told the other guys in the bar I was going out there to drive Ted home. Nobody saw what happened after I got to the parking lot.” “Did you have to be so damn nice to him all the time?” She clutched the sides of her head, feeling as if it might explode any second. “I knew he pushed you around and took advantage of you, the whole big brother thing. I never suspected he was a total slimeball.” “Shh.” Tim’s ethereal hands skimmed over her body in a futile gesture of comfort. “It’s too late to change the past.” She glared at him. “Ted seems to think lots can change. He was hitting on me tonight. He must think he has a chance, now that you’re gone. If he ever tries that again, he’ll find out I’d rather be a hermit in a cave living on fried worms than hook up with him.” Just as she drew breath for another blast, a knock hammered on the front door. Her heart stuttered. “What’s that?” Tim blinked out of existence, then reappeared a second later. “It’s Ted. Don’t answer it.” Another knock reverberated from downstairs. “The hell I won’t. I’m going to give him a piece of my mind for what he did to you.” She rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. “He’s not in his right mind. I don’t trust him with you.”
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“Come on, it’s just Ted. He’d never really hurt me. Anyway, if I don’t answer the door, he’ll wake the whole block.” She hurried down to the living room, where she’d left a light on as usual. Tim drifted behind her, vanishing the moment she unbolted the door. Ted barged in and slammed the door behind him. The rain must have stopped, because his hair and clothes were dry. She smelled beer on his breath. How many had he chugged in the couple of hours since he’d left? When he grabbed her by the shoulders, she flinched. Never before had she sensed any reason to be afraid of him. Had she really known him as well as she’d thought all these years? “Let go of me! What’s wrong with you?” “I’m sick of waiting around while you blow me off.” He shook her. “I’m crazy about you. How long are you going to ignore me?” “Forget it.” She gripped his forearms, trying to pull his hands off her. “There’s not a chance. Nada.” With rasping breath, he jerked her closer and snuffled her neck. “You smell like sex. Have you been frigging yourself, daydreaming about him? I think about you every time I beat off.” Fury blazed through her. “Get out of my house. Right now.” From the corner of her eye she glimpsed a hazy silhouette, like a cloud of smoke. Tim. Ted squashed his mouth to hers and forced her lips apart, his teeth harshly scraping her skin. The beer on his breath made her stomach lurch. “Waited long enough. Want to fuck you,” he mumbled. She struggled as his hips ground against hers. His erection pressed against her. Crooking her fingers, she raked her nails across his cheek. With a curse, he let go. She retreated toward the stairs and scrambled backward, up a few steps. Beside her the apparition of Tim congealed from a transparent cloud into a vaguely human shape.
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“Bitch, you can’t treat me that way!” For the first time, Ted’s eyes wandered from her to the specter hovering next to her. “What the hell is that?” “You wouldn’t believe it.” Her chest heaved with labored breaths. “Just go away. It’s your fault Tim died. I never want to speak to you again. If you leave me alone, I won’t tell your parents and break their hearts all over.” “Tell what? What kind of crap is that?” His voice shook under the bluster, though. “You lied to everybody. You were driving drunk. If you hadn’t been, he’d still be alive.” “How do you know—that’s bull.” “Too late to deny it.” She folded her arms and backed up another step. “You as good as admitted it right then. You killed your brother. You should be dead, not him.” Ted charged up the stairs at her. “Shut up!” She raised her arms to ward him off. The ring glowed like a hot coal. Tim brightened into full visibility, though still translucent. Ted froze and stared at him. “What’s going on? That can’t be real.” Tim floated down the staircase. Tiny bolts of blue lightning flashed in the sphere of chilled air that enveloped him. Ted flailed his arms and emitted gurgles of terror. “Leave her alone,” Tim said. “Don’t ever touch her again.” With a scream, Ted backed down the stairs and sprinted for the door. Tim drifted behind him. Roseanne followed, running out the open door just as Ted ran around to the driver’s door of his car at the curb. “Wait!” she called. “You can’t drive like this.” Ignoring her, Ted jumped into the car and slammed the door. The engine and lights switched on. The pavement gleamed, still wet from the rain. Tim, hovering next to Roseanne, said, “I can’t let him drive. He’s too drunk.” He floated through the car window into the passenger seat.
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She dashed to the curb and heard him pleading with his brother. “Ted, don’t make the same mistake again. Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. Just turn off the motor and get out of the car.” In a shrill tone of fear tinged with anger, Ted shouted, “Go back to hell!” He gunned the accelerator and the car shot forward. Little more than a block away, near the playground at the end of the street, the wheels skidded on the wet pavement. Roseanne watched in horror as the car spun out of control, jumped the curb and crashed into a tree. Her heart pounding furiously, she ran to the driver’s side and wrenched the door open. Tim still hovered in the passenger side of the front seat. Cracks spiderwebbed the windshield where Ted’s head had rebounded off it. Slumped behind the wheel, he wasn’t moving. She leaned over him to get a closer look under the dome light. No blood but his neck was bent at a strange angle. When she tentatively explored his skull, she found crushed bone on his forehead. Swallowing a spasm of nausea, she fingered both sides of his throat. She couldn’t find a pulse. “I think his neck broke.” She gazed up at Tim and rubbed her eyes. “I have to call 911.” “Too late. He’s dead.” Tim’s voice sounded on the verge of a sob. “This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t scared him.” “It’s not your fault.” Shuddering, she swallowed a lump in her throat and blinked back tears. “You tried to stop him. Are you sure there’s no hope?” “I don’t sense his spirit anywhere. He’s gone. But maybe—” A glow flared around Tim. He faded to mist. Drifting over to the driver’s seat, he shrouded Ted’s body like a layer of fog. His substance revolved like a miniature cyclone and contracted to a cone. Beginning with the spearlike point, it poured into Ted’s nostrils and gaping mouth. Roseanne straightened up, lightheaded with shock. The spectral mist vanished into the dead man. A bluish halo surrounded him but seconds later that disappeared too. 30
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Chapter Four A shudder convulsed the body. She knelt to place her hand over his heart. The unnatural glow in the ring she wore burned brighter before dying away completely. His head shifted, aligning itself properly on the spinal column. The scratches from her fingernails vanished. The misshapen spot on his forehead smoothed over. Last, he opened his eyes. For an instant they glowed, then faded to normal. They looked more gray-blue than azure. “Rosebud?” The voice sounded deeper than Ted’s. “Tim?” she whispered. Ted didn’t know that nickname. Her lover would never have shared that secret with anybody, not even his brother. Given Ted’s crude habits, especially not his brother. He hauled himself out of the car, staggering when he tried to stand. She draped his arm over her shoulders and supported him while they walked toward the house. The middle-aged lady who lived in the unit next to Roseanne opened her door and stared at the wreck. “Oh, my God, what happened?” “Don’t worry,” Roseanne said. “He’s not hurt. We don’t need any help right now. I’ll get the car towed in the morning.” She helped him inside and led him to the couch, where he lay down. “It’s really you?” After one impossible event on top of another, she felt stunned. With a slow nod, he said, “Ted’s body was empty. He was definitely gone. I couldn’t resist the chance to come back to you.” She still trembled from the shock. “I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t really want him to die.”
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“If I hadn’t chased him, maybe he wouldn’t have. I feel like I’ve stolen his body. But it was my only chance.” “You didn’t make him get drunk or force him to get in the driver’s seat. You tried to save him.” If she repeated that reminder often enough, maybe she could squash her own feeling of guilt for her part in the fight that had sent Ted running for his car. As if he sensed her qualms, Tim clasped her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her clenched fingers. “If it wasn’t my fault, it sure wasn’t yours. He…brought it on himself.” “You’re not hurt anymore. I mean, Ted’s body isn’t. Or yours. Whatever.” This development made her head spin worse than the first sight of Tim’s ghost had. “Yes, it looks like the process of entering his body and reviving it healed all damage, including the effects of the alcohol. I’m not drunk the way he was a minute ago.” She noticed he didn’t exhale beer fumes anymore. “Neat trick.” He flexed one leg. “That high school football injury Ted used to complain about even seems to be cured.” Kneeling beside the couch, she ran her fingers through his hair, over his shoulders, down the front of his chest. The firm muscles felt familiar, because the two brothers had similar body types. The hair, though the right color, wasn’t quite long enough for Tim. Though the voice and eyes were Tim’s, he smelled like Ted. Roseanne closed her eyes for a second. It would be easier to accept the change if he wore the spicy aftershave he’d used in life. His hands wandered over her shoulders, breasts, waist and hips. “I can hardly believe this,” he whispered in a tone of awed wonder. “I can feel you. Not just your body heat but your skin, your clothes, everything.” He pulled her upward. She stretched on top of him with her chest against his, her hips cradled between his thighs. When she rested her head on his shoulder, she felt the hammering of his heart.
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His arms, wrapped around her, trembled. She realized she was shaking too. Tears welled in her eyes. “I can’t believe it. It’s too much.” “I know.” Sobs choked his voice. “More than I could hope for. If only we’d been granted it some other way.” He reached under her T-shirt to run his hands up and down her back. He kissed the tears from the corners of her eyes. She raised herself on her elbows to do the same to him. Real skin, living hands on her body, yet not truly Tim’s hands. She felt half drowned in a blend of confusion and joy. “It’s almost like he gave you back the life he took from you,” she said. “Even if he didn’t mean to give it.” Unbuttoning his shirt, she petted the hair on his chest and felt the pebble firmness of each nipple. When she planted a kiss on his collarbone, he sighed and tightened his arms around her. His thighs opened to settle her more firmly between them. “This may not be the right time to mention it but I actually have a hard-on.” She squirmed against his growing erection. “I think it’s the perfect time.” He hooked his fingers in the waistband of her shorts. “I can’t change the size or shape of body parts anymore. We’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.” “Sounds great.” She rolled onto her side, barely able to fit next to him on the couch and unzipped his shorts. He touched her hair with a hesitant caress. “Are you sure you’re good with this?” “I’m not good with wishing Ted had died and then having it happen.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “But I’m definitely thankful to have you here.” He stroked her hair. “Amazing. I can feel it all the different textures.” He traced the outline of her ear and the curve of her jaw. Meanwhile, his other hand continued wandering over her back. Roseanne shivered when his fingers trailed down her spine. Again they eased under her waistband at the small of her back. Insinuating her hand inside the open zipper, she fondled his shaft through the briefs.
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“Easy,” he hissed. He turned on his side to nestle her close to him, face-to-face. His lips brushed the top of her head. He inhaled deeply. “You smell wonderful. Just the way I remembered.” After kissing her forehead, he licked her cheek. “You taste like salt. I love being able to taste you.” She nibbled his neck. “Taste all you want, as long as I get equal time.” His muscles tensed under her mouth, while he flexed his hips to press his erection tighter against her. A trickle of heat dampened her shorts. She hadn’t bothered with either panties or bra. Tim rolled up her shirt and swept his hands from her back to her waist, then up her sides to the outer curves of her breasts. She folded his shirt flaps out of the way to rub her erect nipples against his chest. “That’s great.” He caught her earlobe between his teeth, making her skin tingle. “I can feel your breasts on me. Want to feel more. I can’t wait to feel your pussy around my cock.” He tugged her shirt off and tossed it on the floor. His hands roamed over her in rapid spirals, as if he yearned to touch every inch at once. She kneaded his shoulders and upper arms, delighting in the firm muscles. Rolling onto his back, he pulled her on top again. She nipped his neck and shoulders. He kissed her throat and licked his way to the vee between her breasts, while she pushed herself up to give him access. She’d almost forgotten how it felt to have a solid body next to hers, living arms embracing her, warm fingers and lips exploring her most sensitive spots. He drew one nipple into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it. He breathed on the moist spot, making her shiver. “Look at that,” he said. “I have actual breath. And a pulse.” Clasping her hand, he held it to his chest. “It’s beating like crazy.” “I know. So is mine.” He splayed his palm between her breasts, with thumb and little finger stroking the inner surfaces. “I feel it hammering away. And your skin is like satin.” A lightheaded giggle escaped her. “All that time as a ghost improved your lines.”
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“It’s because I appreciate everything so much more now.” While he returned to lapping her nipples, his fingers trailed down to her waistband. “Did I ever notice you have tiny, silky hairs all over?” He peeled her shorts partway off and skimmed over her stomach to the apex of her thighs. “And this hair. Soft and curly. Perfect for petting.” Shudders coursed through her when he tickled the area around her clit. She sat upright to wiggle out of the shorts. “So keep petting.” He did, while she leaned over him with her hands on his shoulders to brace herself. “You’re purring. I must be doing something right.” She blushed when she heard the hum in her own throat, a sound she hadn’t been conscious of making. “Keep it up,” he said. “I always loved that noise. I’d forgotten about it until right now.” He parted the moist folds of her pussy to caress her bud. “I love feeling how thick this gets when you’re turned-on.” “Stop,” she breathed. “My turn now.” She scooted to the floor and knelt beside him. After taking off his shoes and socks, she finished unfastening his shorts and tugged them off. She cupped his erection through the briefs and smiled at the way his breath turned ragged. Insinuating a finger in the fly opening, she ran a fingernail up the shaft. She pulled off the pants and watched his cock spring upright. With her fingers bouncing his sac and tickling the spot right behind it, she licked up his rod to the tip. He groaned and clutched the cushions under him. When she circled the tip, she tasted a droplet of liquid. Tears misted her eyes at the memories the flavor conjured up, of all the times they’d driven each other to ecstasy this way. His hips pumped while her tongue flickered up and down his cock, then around it in spirals, first slow, then faster by the second. He grasped the top of her head, fingers tangled in her hair. “Hold it,” he gasped. “I can’t stand it anymore. I need to come in the worst way.” “Then do it. Now.”
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“Inside you. Please.” She scooted up and spread her thighs on either side of his. Raising her hips, she sheathed his cock within her. Her pussy started to ripple with pleasure the moment he began to thrust. She paused, suspended above him. “I’m not dreaming? You’re really here?” “Yes,” he gasped, trembling with the effort of holding still. “You won’t disappear on me?” “Never.” “Then come on!” She met him with a hard, fast rhythm. Leaning forward, she pressed her clit to his groin and luxuriated in the rubbing of hair against that sensitive spot, the fluid glide of his cock inside her, the almost painful pleasure of the friction deep inside when it thrust up to the root. “So hot,” he groaned. “Your pussy’s so hot I can’t stand it. Got to come.” “Me too.” She dug her nails into his shoulders and rocked still faster to match the speed of his thrusts. Tremors started in her pussy and raced through her whole body. Yet another orgasm racked her. A second later, his explosion echoed hers. She lay flat on top of him, panting. His breath rasped in her ears and his heart pounded under her cheek. His hands wandered over her as if he still couldn’t believe in his own sensations. When his breathing became more even, he said, “I want to share your bed.” “That’s a great idea.” She climbed off him. With their arms around each other’s waists, they staggered upstairs. Her thigh muscles ached and her clit and sheath felt a little sore. She didn’t mind. In fact, she relished the soreness. It proved he’d entered her with a flesh-and-blood cock. “How about a shower first?” he said as they walked along the second-floor hall. “I can hardly wait to do everything we used to share together.”
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“Omelets, wine, walks in the park with the dog.” A lump clogged her throat for a second. “We’ll do it all.” In the shower stall she switched on the hot water and stepped in with him behind her. With her legs trembling, she had to brace herself against the wall. Filling his palms with liquid soap, he washed her back. She arched her spine and let the hum he called a purr vibrate in her throat. He massaged her shoulders, then spread the soap over her collarbone and the hollows on either side of her neck. In slow circles, he laved her breasts and abdomen. Her thigh muscles quivered, while her pussy muscles contracted and her clit began to swell again. “I can’t,” she whispered. “You’ve worn me out.” Soaping the hair on her mound, he said, “I’ll bet you can come once more.” A slick finger slid over her clit, which twitched with eagerness for more. Involuntarily her hips rocked in time with his caresses. She couldn’t believe how good they felt, even though every inch of flesh between her legs felt rubbed almost raw already. Hardly able to stand, she leaned back against him. One of his arms wrapped around her waist to support her, while the other hand kept stroking between her legs. Slowly at first, then faster, the way he knew she liked it. Her clit started pulsing first, then her pussy lips, finally the muscles deep inside. Delirium swept over her one more time. When her head stopped reeling, she turned to face him. “Yeah, that was a lot like the way we used to do it.” She felt her mouth widen in a goofy grin. He smiled back. She soaped her hands and began washing him. When she reached his cock, it stirred slightly in her clasp but didn’t stiffen. “Don’t you want to come again?” she asked. He said with a weak laugh, “I’m a guy. Multiple climaxes are a female thing. A twenty-six-year-old male body has limits.” He rested his chin on top of her head. “But
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I’d still rather have a body than not have one. Give me an hour or so and then we’ll see.” After rinsing in the hot water, they stepped out to dry each other. He toweled her hair until no more than damp and she carried a fresh towel into the bedroom to cover the pillow. She stretched out on her back with Tim reclining next to her. “We’ve had so many great times in this room,” he said, tracing aimless circles on her stomach as if he couldn’t bear to stop touching her for more than a second. “I thought I’d lost that forever.” “Me too.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “But not anymore. Let’s try to think of it as a bad dream.” “Right. Now we’re awake. And I’ll never lose you again.” He laid his head on her shoulder. She ran her fingers through the dense pelt of his honey-gold hair. Now that he’d bathed in the soap they always used to wash each other, he smelled like her Tim. With a minor shock, she realized she’d momentarily forgotten he inhabited his brother’s body. “I’ll have to get used to calling you Ted. Will you be able to fit into his life?” “Don’t see why not. We worked for the same company. I know most of his friends, though I think I’ll stay away from the ones he used to get drunk with every weekend. If I slip up, I’ll let people think it’s because of a delayed grief reaction.” “Are you going to tell your parents you’re living in his body?” He sighed. “I can’t. If I try, they’ll assume ‘Ted’ has gone out of his mind. I’ll have to be him to everybody except you for the rest of my life.” “To have you back, I can live with that.” Trying to visualize the future, she realized that even though his family and friends would never consciously know the truth, they would respond to the shift from Ted’s personality to Tim’s. Eventually, everyone would adjust to the new situation, as if a different brother had died in the crash. She lifted her hand to contemplate the glitter of the diamond. Life would go on as if some higher
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Heart Diamond
power had used the ring to fix what had gone wrong. “I guess we’ll have to take it slowly at first. If I got engaged to Ted out of the blue, your folks would freak out.” “As slow as you want in public.” His palm skimmed up her side to fondle a breast. “As long as you’re all mine in private. We have the rest of our lives now.” “Oh, by the way, could you grow your hair a little longer? And start wearing your old aftershave?” He laughed. “Sure. Anything to make you happy, Rosebud.”
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About the Author Marked for life by reading DRACULA at the age of twelve, Margaret L. Carter specializes in the literature of fantasy and the supernatural, particularly vampires. She received degrees in English from the College of William and Mary, the University of Hawaii, and the University of California. She is a 2000 Eppie Award winner in horror, and with her husband, retired Navy Captain Leslie Roy Carter, she coauthored a fantasy novel.
Margaret welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Margaret L. Carter Dragon’s Tribute Ellora’s Cavemen: Legendary Tails III anthology Love Unleashed New Flame Night Flight Tall, Dark and Deadly Tentacles of Love Transformations anthology Virgin Blood
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